Several years ago I was telling my dad about a challenge I was having at work with a particular manager. This boss rarely considered input from his employees and frequently made amazingly poor decisions. After listening to some of my story, my dad said something to me that was quite interesting: “The boss isn’t always right,” he said, “but he is always the boss.”
OK. Well, thanks for the support. That’s what I thought at first, anyway, but, as it turns out, he wasn’t actually supporting my boss; instead, he was trying to tell me something important about working with people. What he was trying to say was that you have to respect the boss, even when he or she does things you don’t agree with. Old school stuff. Respect for authority, that kind of thing. It is, by the way, good advice. If you don’t respect what the boss does, instead of becoming a problem go somewhere else. (What better way to penalize a bad boss than to take your talent elsewhere?)
Thinking about that story reminded me of a very similar saying that salespeople should always remember: “The customer isn’t always right, but he (or she) is always the customer.” Same idea as above; same take-away. If your customer has a problem, he or she may not be right but it still makes good business sense to respect the customer. First, delighted customers are the best marketing money can buy. Second, dissatisfied customers can be more destructive that just about anything (just look at all the websites devoted to trashing companies that treat customers poorly). Third, a customer’s value to your business is usually measured over a lifetime, not a single purchase. Unless it is unprofitable to do business with the customer, it makes (dollars and) sense to deal patiently with customers who have issues.
The stark reality is that almost all customers have issues. Some issues are big, some are small. Some are easily resolved, some are chronic. Some issues are imagined, others are the real deal. Regardless of the size and scope of the issue, salespeople should be diligent in resolving issues – real or imagined. Why? Because the customer may not necessarily be right, but he/she can certainly influence the decisions of a whole lot of other potential customers.
Tips on Dealing with Customer Issues
In my experience, one of the traits that seems to appear consistently among top salespeople is their ability to effectively handle customer issues. In fact, top salespeople just seem to know how to parlay customer issues into additional business, new opportunities, and qualified referrals. While some seem to do it quite naturally, I have found that in most cases it’s simply a matter of learning a few key skills and looking at each issue as an opportunity to impress the customer.
The question is how do they do it? What exactly are they doing to negotiate through or around these issues? Certainly they are solving the immediate problem, but just solving the problem doesn’t always make the customer happy. Ever been to a restaurant and had the experience go bad? Even if everything gets resolved, the way you feel when you leave has as much to do with how the staff and/or manager handles the problem as what they actually do to solve the issue.
I was reading a great column recently from Michael McLaughlin entitled Cardinal Rules for Tough Client Situations. In this article he mentions five key ideas you must consider when dealing with a customer issue:
- Affixing blame doesn’t fix anything
- Define the problem in a way that allows you to solve it
- Test the validity of all assumptions and facts
- Disagree without being disagreeable
- Prevent future problems by focusing on how decisions are made
The first rule is the most simple, and probably the most abused. Salespeople tend to throw other departments under the bus when things go wrong. “I don’t know what those guys in shipping are doing,” they might say. Or, “Our accounting department is clueless sometimes.” Stuff like that. The idea is to deflect blame and be the “good guy.” However, by blaming others, the sales rep is sending a very clear message: I don’t take responsibility and I am willing to blame anyone else at any time. This not only erodes your integrity, but it will eventually destroy your credibility.
These ideas are pretty easy to follow and they create a process for dealing with issues big and small. First, take responsibility; second, avoid assumptions and get a clear definition of the problem from the customer; third, make sure the customer’s assumptions are valid; fourth, be positive and amiable even in disagreement; and fifth, learn everything you can this time so you can proactively avoid the same issue next time.
As Michael points out, “The most important point is this: The success of the services you deliver and the results you achieve depend, in large part, on the quality of the personal interactions you have with others along the way. Keep that in mind and you’ll be able to tackle any problem clients throw your way.”
